Columns

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s problematic campaign for governor is running into some opposition even within his own party, as he attempts to parlay his extremist record into the Governor’s Mansion.
Virginia Republicans, like many state parties around the nation, have succumbed to the passions of the far-right “tea party” types, and they are the ones who engineered Cuccinelli’s nomination at a sparsely-attended convention.

It was interesting to read, in last week’s Liberal Agenda, that Rick Howell is thinking of ordaining me. He wrote that perhaps he should consider calling me “Pastor” Barnhart. I’m Anglican, so I would be Father Barnhart. However, Mr. Howell isn’t in a position to ordain anyone and I’m not a candidate for the priesthood.

I’m not about to get into a weeks-long back and forth about the Bible, Scripture, “fulfilling the law,” and other such religious stuff.
I write about politics and government. My own religious beliefs are my personal business and I don’t see political activity as a religious crusade, as the “Christian conservatives” do.

Being charged with a crime is never a good thing, but it could be especially bad for a black man 100 years ago. The biggest problem wasn’t that he could face racial bias from a jury when he had his day in court; it was possible that he wouldn’t even live long enough to have his day in court. He could end up being lynched, even if the crime he was accused of would not carry the death penalty if he had been convicted.

One thing we can always rely on about Republicans is their unbridled devotion to capital and business...in other words, to money and power.
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell appears to have let his attachment to “mammon” (the Biblical term for money) get the better of him, or, perhaps better described, of him and his wife, Maureen.

I’ve often wondered why Rick Howell occasionally devotes a Liberal Agenda column to trying to convince readers that homosexuality and abortion, the two top social issues for left-wingers, aren’t incompatible with Christianity. Shortly after his most recent effort, I saw a column, entitled The Myth of Unreligious America, in the Wall Street Journal that may explain why.